MICROSOFT ACQUIRES ZENIMAX PUBLISHING
(via CNBC)
Microsoft just dropped a nuke in the form of purchasing ZENIMAX studios. That’s Bethesda, MachineGames, Arkane, and Id Software under one roof. This spells disaster for Sony’s Next Generation plans. Except, not really. Here’s why.
Firstly, the hallmark franchises of Zenimax(Fallout and The Elder Scrolls, respectively) are years away from materializing. Bethesda announced The Elder Scrolls VI nearly two years ago. Nothing significant has been said thusly. As for Fallout 5? No announcement, no speculation, nothing. Given the disastrous launch of Fallout 76(and Bethesda’s subsequent damage control), I think it’s fair to say Fallout is on ice right now.
What people are forgetting is that Microsoft is a business. They’re in the money making business. There’s next to zero chance Microsoft is making these games exclusive when they drop. There’s a narrative that because Microsoft spent several small fortunes to acquire Zenimax(to the tune of $7.5bn USD) , their tentpole franchises will remain off the PlayStation 5 platform. It’s absurd to think that a multi-billion dollar company like Microsoft will pass up the dominant fanbase that is the PlayStation fanbase.
Finally, I’ve seen numerous forum posts stating that “Sony is in trouble” “Microsoft won this generation” , or other such nonsense. The fact is, Microsoft has no heavy hitters for this year. Potentially into next year arguably. Halo is a no-show for 2020, and has no solid release date. Lest we forget, Zenimax(and it’s studios) take ages to release games. Not to say this isn’t a good get for Microsoft, it absolutely is. Time will tell how it pays off✌🏿
Purveyors Of Pixels 